1. Field of the Invention
The bulk storage and unloading apparatus of the present invention relates to a device for rapidly and conveniently unloading bulk material from a storage compartment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In transporting granular materials such as coke grains and the like it is common practice to store such materials in large warehouses which may be on the order of 400 feet long and store 100,000 tons of coke. It is common practice to provide an outlet in the bottom wall of such warehouses for unloading of the coke or the like into the holds of ships moored adjacent such warehouses. Heretofore, it has been standard practice to provide relatively small discharge outlets in the bottom walls of such warehouses and when such outlets are opened, the granular material will pour therethrough under the influence of gravity at a rate determined by the cross sectional area of such outlets until such time as the angle of repose for the granular material is reached. Thereafter, in order to continue unloading of the warehouse, it is necessary to forcefully shift the remaining granular material toward such outlet for discharge therethrough. Bulldozers have commonly been used in order to make this transfer of material. However, this procedure has proven to be relatively slow and typically only approximately 25,000 tons per hour can be discharged. Further, operation of internal combustion engines within the confines of the warehouse has proven to present health hazards to workmen in such warehouse due to the discharge of fumes and inadequate circulation of air.
Numerous arrangements have been proposed for lining the interior of warehouses with bladders or the like and then inflating such bladders in order to shift the granular material away from the side walls and toward such outlet. However, such arrangements all suffer the shortcoming that they are inflated in such a manner that it is necessary to shift the entire mass of material being shifted, thus necessitating application of extremely high forces which must be withstood by such warehouses thereby necessitating reinforcement of such side walls to such a degree that the overall scheme has been rendered impractical.